the world is bright and beautiful

Good golly, Enchanted Grounds is my favorite coffee shop. The coffee I’m drinking (Abeba from Ethiopia) is fresh, having been ground and brewed specifically for my cup. Augustana is playing over the store’s radio. It is quiet, because the only other people in here are engaged in Magic:The Gathering. It appears to be a fierce battle, and the combatants are silently matched. The only other sounds are a blender and a grinder, both familiar sounds to me and therefore unobtrusive. It has been a while since I blogged last. Of news? Well, my $307 from the state was intercepted (their word) to pay a Community College debt I didn’t know existed. So I may be out $307, straight away. But it becomes harder and harder to worry about money as of late, for so many reasons. Sure, I want to live comfortably (not losing sleep comfortably, not Lexus SUV comfortably, mind you.) But on my list of things I find important and worth stressing or fighting over, money sure as hell isn’t one of them. But that is just a thought. I’m happy. Very, very happy. I’m not sure what else to say right now.

Those are beautiful words coming from a beautiful girl. (MY beautiful girl, to be precise.) Today has been a day. I feel overwhelmed, so I want to look through and find the good sides of everything. I was awoken at 5am by my phone ringing. I was informed that work would be canceled for today and probably tomorrow, meaning that while I get 2 days off now, I just lost my Friday and Saturday. The upside? I still get all my hours, and can take care of some things I need to this week. That is good. I finally got my mail keys. Good thing. Inside our box? A letter from the State of Colorado (herein known as the “bastards,”) informing me that my tax return had been intercepted to pay off debts that had been sent to collection. The upside? I have already paid said debts, and now the bastards owe me $307 flat, and I am ready to open up a might can on our colorful state. This is a hard time. I have so many things I need that need money to accomplish (cars, diamonds, savings) yet every turn I take I find one more reason why I can’t have any money. Such a petty thing, this lousy monster that sucks life out of everyone. I know that I could easily master it, make it a tool for me and my future, but now it is just eating me alive. I can’t wait to tell the state, “You owe me $307 flat!” This will still be the best year of my life.

Dear everybody, I wanted to inform you that my girlfriend Ricci has started a great little blog, but seems to be a little self-concscious about it. Do her a big favor and jaunt on over, read the posts and leave her some comments to let her know that she’s a good writer and that her life is in fact quite interesting. Sorry for the lack of posting, internet is down at my apt and I keep forgetting that a great coffee shop with free Wi-Fi is close by.

Ricci’s Blog

Ah! I realize my recent and longstanding abscence (spelling?) and apologize. The internet at our house has been down, and the wireless card in my trusted lappy crapped out on me, leaving me in a bit of a bind. But, at last I am cruising along at 54.0 mbps thanks to the good folks at D-Link, and also thanks to the good man who bought my old Cry Baby pedal for roughly the cost of a new Wi-Fi card. Gracias, mi amigos. But news! So much good news! I am unsure where to begin. Lets start with work.

As of tuesday, I will be driving a truck for BestYard.Com yet again. As much as I enjoy making coffee and engaging in the cynical heckling inherent to a true Barista, $8-ish an hour does not get one very far. Oh, to be 17 again! But, with my previous pay of $11.50 being restored, I feel that I will be able to, at last, begin getting my feet under me financially. But lawns are not the real news. The real news is, I’m finally a paid worship leader! It all came about very quickly via the “secret” page on the NewLife School of Worship website. I saw the job listing, made a call, interviewed the next day, and now less than 2 weeks later, I am practiced up for my first youth service tomorrow morning. It is for now my dream job. I am in charge of an all-youth band, both directing the current roster of players and training up the “next generation” of bands who will take the reigns come graduation time. I am beyond excited that I not only get to do what I believe God has called me to do and trained me for, but I get paid to do it. What? What? What?

But there is music news as well! I work(ed) with a girl at ink!coffee (no link for them) who attends school at CU Denver, in the Music Production school. Part of the student’s responsibility is the management of a local record label. Every year, they acquire tracks from local artists to make a compilation CD. Well, Becky (homegirl from ink!) directed the A&R guys to Cameron At Bay’s Myspace page. Her exact words were: “They loved it. They said you guys were better than anyone else that sent us tracks. If you can get us 2 more songs by Thursday that would be great.” Now, I realize that this isn’t quite the same as Island Records knocking on your door. But who cares? A record label like my band’s music! They want more! Fantastic news. So I dropped by our producer Ben’s house to deliver some well-earned money and talk through the final tweaking needed for the tracks we recorded over the winter. Honestly, I had forgotten how good the recordings sound. I was stunned. I can’t wait to see what is on the horizon for CAB.

Plus last night I cooked Ricci a dinner of Sautee’d Salmon over Angel Hair, Steamed Asparagus, a secret harvest salad, and homemade Raspberry Vinagrette. Mmmhmmm. I wish I could eat like that every single night of my life. There is nothing like seeing the girl of your dreams emphatically devour a dinner that you personally prepared for her. This is why my blog is titled thusly.

it has been a very good couple of days. I got to spend a lot of time with Ricci Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. We have fairly opposing work schedules, so finding time together can be very challenging. We ate ice cream, watched “The United States of Leland,” (one of my favorite movies,) played piano (kinda,) ate mexican food (ala carte is the greatest,) played with my cat, made breakfast, put power steering fluid and oil in my car, ate homemade quesadillas, and went dollar bowling with Brett. All in a different order than presented here. But it was a great few days. Now it is back to the grind, which I realize is a terrible pun because I make coffee for a living. But I’ve been gifted a great turntable which needs only one more part to be operational, and have an interview tommorow for some part-time worship leading. It is going to be a very good week.